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NLP in Business

06 April 2009

One of the first things I learnt as a business coach and executive mentor helping business owners and directors manage their businesses more efficiently, is that communication and behaviour was a critical area which needed much improvement. This article explains how the use of NLP or Neuro-Linguistic Programming can help dramatically. It is all about human behaviour, techniques on how to run ourselves and others better, information about how the human mind works, how people think, behave and change.

After reading this tip sheet, you will:

have a good idea about what NLP is and how it can help you and your business
know about how NLP is involved in all our communication, behaviour and decision making and basically governs all of our lives
be able to get better results as you understand what the drivers are behind you behaviour
be much better at building rapport and empathise with other people
realise how important it is to be careful with the words you use with yourself and others
train yourself to have a better understanding about how your emotions work

Business NLP description

There are many descriptions of NLP or Neuro-Linguistic Programming :-

the study of human behaviour
techniques on how to run ourselves and others better
an attitude of insatiable curiosity about human beings with a methodology that leaves behind a trail of techniques
information about how the human mind works, how people think, behave and change

At the heart there is a wide range of methods that allow a flexible approach to bring about positive, fast change in individuals and organisations that allow them to adapt to an ever-changing world. NLP training provides the skills to define and achieve desired outcomes and goals, a heightened awareness of your five senses – visual, auditive and audio digital, kinaesthetic (body), smell and taste – but still allowing you to remain flexible, stay focused and maintain rapport or in the good books with those around you….

It’s all about being better communicators, not only using and understanding all of our five senses but being able to pick up hidden messages from the people to whom we are communicating.

So what’s involved….?

NLP provides patterns and questions to understand more of what is going on. It can teach us to realise the language patterns that we ourselves are using and also the patterns of others to understand what others are really saying or not saying but meaning. So just imagine if you could communicate better then you get faster understanding ideal in all walks of life but even more so where words, body gestures and facial expressions are crucial to the outcome i.e. in sales, negotiating, meetings, courting, justice, in fact all of life.

The thing about NLP is that if you can understand different behavioural patterns then you can find out why some people are so successful at a particular action. Once you break down what they do, think, say, and believe into small detail, you can then copy or model them to get similar results. This goes for sports people, business people, actors or anybody. Most of the time we are modelling people unconsciously all the time, our parents, teachers, friends, managers but not always with the results we want. The challenge is to understand what bit to change to get the outcome we want….the challenge is that we are all very good at getting what we get.

The next stage is to reach down inside our brain, find out the exact steps that we take to get what we get and then change some of those steps to get what we want. Simple isn’t it!! Well we are all very different in out thoughts, decisions and actions due to genes, education in the widest sense of the word, peers, friends, parents, etc.

Much of the time we expect people to act and think the same way as ourselves often with disastrous consequences. The saying “there’s now’t so strange as folk” is crazy really because the behaviour is strange to us but not to the person who’s doing it or saying it…and vice-versa….

The steps can be found and changed by using NLP techniques that include things like:-

Hierarchy of Learning and Change
Anchoring
Positive states
Rapport Building
Language Patterns
NET Technique
Anchoring and Reframing
Strategy Installation
Time Lines
Relaxation methods
Modelling
Emotional Intelligence

…you will have understood the words but maybe not the titles…despite this the results will amaze you….. It’s fascinating and just think if you can learn more about how you ..think, act, behave, love, fear, decide, feel, translate emotions and so on means that you will communicate better to everyone….your family, spouse, children, colleagues, suppliers, neighbours, customers, bosses, taxi drivers, police, traffic wardens, literally everyone…..get better results, have a better life..

The best thing to do to learn more about these easy to learn skills by coming on one of our courses that we run about Behaviour and Communication – Telephone, Sales, Negotiation, Social skills – for individuals and companies.

A good book to read is “NLP at Work” by Sue Knight or visit Andy Smith’s website, who trained me.